


true love belongs in fairy tales

by pandoracorn



Series: DR Birthdays 2018 [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Amami is a dragon boy, Establishing Romance, F/F, Fluff, Rapunzel AU, birthday fic, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 17:37:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13323126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandoracorn/pseuds/pandoracorn
Summary: It had been 17 years since the girl with the braided hair had been trapped in the tower.--she's a princess, hoping for salvation. she's a girl who just wants to be known.





	true love belongs in fairy tales

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Tenko!!
> 
> Tenko is for sure my best v3 girl, I don't know what it is about ehr that I love so much but I adore ever part of her with my being, she's so cute and powerful and a Very Big Lesbian.
> 
> I hope this fic is OK!! I've only just started playing v3 so I've got ot get the characterisation down - if I do end up doing this birthday challenge again next year, I hope I can write something even better.

It had been 17 years since the girl with the braided hair had been trapped in the tower. Not a day passed where she liked being trapped in the prison she called home, but despite her best efforts, no ideas of escape came to her - nor was the company in her barless cell much help, either.

“Please, Amami-san,” she’d plead with the green haired man - well, as much of him  _ was _ a man, that is - at least once a day. “An hour outside, Tenko just wants to feel the sun on her face and smell the air!”

He sighed despite himself, remaining against the door he guarded with his arms folded, a long, forked tongue flicking out for a moment in snake-like fashion, despite his draconic heritage. “You have a window right there, use it.”

Tenko huffed. “Do you have no sympathy?!”

“I am simply doing as I am told.”

“Master doesn’t have to know!!”

“You and I both know he will find out. Trust me, I hate this dismal place as much as you do.”

And with that, she would fall into silence again, hating sitting still and yet being unable to move, stuck to staring at the ceiling, drapes of long, thick black hair trailing off of her bed and surrounding her.

 

Of course, this tale was one told all around the county, and was what often attracted the flocks of tourists to the town nearby. On the outskirts of the town, surrounded by a forest that was drowning in life, was a tower that seemed as tall as the clouds - it’s peak decorated with the finest terracotta, and a single window, that often hung two long trails of hair out of it. Sometimes, if you watched the window, you would see a face, the rumoured princess of the tower, Tenko Chabashira, locked away by her master to protect her from the men of the land who would want to use her energy for their own gain. Many a Prince has tried to conquer the tower, and if Tenko herself did not care to strike them down, perhaps they would meet a crueler fate at that hands of her dragon guardian - known only as Rantarou Amami, a powerful hoarder dragon taken human form, domesticated by a wealthy Lord and same master to Tenko herself, assigned to protect the tower and its treasure; the girl. The tale was passed around town, many townsfolk trying to put their own spin on the story. “They say she stores the bones of the men she hates in the corner of her room”, “She’s a ghost who died in the tower”, “The dragon is her real father”. 

 

Of course, the genius Miu Iruma was never one to believe a rumour.

 

...Or was she?

 

Right now, she was simply a lowly apprenticing blacksmith in the town, known for her blunt and often rude nature and brutal honesty, but she knew that she was meant for something greater in this shithole of a world. When stupid rumours spread, sure, she’d bite, but if it wasn’t to her benefit, she normally lose interest rather quickly. This time, however, there was weight to the words that were spread around the town - a princess in the tower meant rescuing her would reap benefits, right? Recognition, praise… money. No guy had ever climbed that tower before, but of course, she, the beautiful busty town girl with the genius brain, would be the one to claim that girl for all her riches. The more Iruma thought about it, the more her mouth watered at the thought of being rewarded… and the quicker she worked on her little engineering project between jobs offered by her boss.

—

The dead of night, normally a time for sleep or not sleeping, when Iruma obviously doing the latter, if you get the implication. But here she was, the night chill brushing against her legs with bony fingers that made her curse under her breath as she pulled her goggles down over her eyes, letting them make a quiet ‘snap’ against her skin despite the stinging pain, puffing out her chest in pride, knowing the machine she was about to use - the bulky box strapped to her back - was one that she’d made with her beautiful bare hands. She tightened the straps around her shoulders and grinned to herself, before pulling a cord and releasing large, metal arms that holstered her into the air - having tested it before, she was sure it would hold her weight, but using it for real this time made her heart race in a way that no other thing could. Not even her darkest desires for which she would divulge if given the opportunity-

 

Iruma quickly swung around the controller that hung from a strap around her neck around, resting it on her chest and pulling the arms forward, carrying her towards the tower and quickly holstering her up the side with little-to-no effort. Having tested this on climbing trees beforehand, with the arms being months in progress, Iruma was no doubt ecstatic to finally be using it for its intended purpose - to get money, fame and maybe a girlfriend. Hopefully. For sure, absolutely - after all, who would reject someone as intelligent, sexy and amazing as her, the saviour of the princess, hero of her world and life and-

 

She smelled smoke. Iruma paused, and looked behind her, noticing her backpack was rather hot against her back, and smoke emitting from the joint connecting the back to the arm. The sound of cracking and snapping of weak, hot metal made her eyes dart down to the ground. She was at a height that she was no way able to survive. Her heart began to beat in her mouth, faster than before, as she looked for something - anything - to grab onto before she would meet an unfortunate end, where the world would surely mourn for the loss of her life. As she felt the arms begin to strain beneath her weight, collapsing in on themselves as the joints snapped more and more, she saw a long, thick, black string hanging from the towerside, and grabbed it just as her invention fell to pieces, apparently worked too hard in the heat of her daydreaming. What a waste of scrap metal. Now she had to do this herself. What kind of peasant did she seem like now?

 

Feet digging into the tower’s side, and often panicking to herself as her hands sometimes seemed to slip against the rope (why was it so smooth?), Iruma eventually climbed to a window and almost threw herself in to safety, even kissing the floor a few times as her legs finally felt safe and steadied their shaking. ...As she looked up, however, she met a highly disapproving face that looked nothing like that of a princess.

His eyes narrowed as he frowned down at the girl. 

“...And you are?” His voice was barely able a whisper but sounded more like a snarl, the aggressive nature causing Iruma to shuffle back as she sat down on the floor still. 

“I-I-I am-” her voice shook instead of her body now, more out of fear than adrenaline, any trace of confidence draining from her body as the dragon man continued to stare. “Miu I-I-Iruma.”

“A village girl?”

She pushed herself up to her feet and huffed, attempting to regain herself. “Ah, uh, yeah, that’s it.”

“You should have waited until morning. You look like a petty thief, climbing up a tower in the middle of the night.”

She blinked, before curling her lips in a snarl, taken aback by his sheer disrespect of her brilliance, “Oh fuck off, I’m not-“ 

Iruma was cut off as he pressed his hand against her mouth, muffling her protests and not letting go, wrapping his other arm around her neck and pulling her close with inhuman strength. “Listen to me very carefully. If you wake the princess with your crude language in excessive volume, it has been asked of me to dispose of you in a discrete manner. Understand?”

She felt his breath against her neck and heard his whisper in her ear, almost making her weak at the knees if not for the face she could feel his nails digging into her cheek. ...Then again, maybe that could do it for her, too. 

The dragon let her go, as her silence meant her compliance, and instructed her to sit with the waft of a hand while he went to stand by the door again. She complied, sitting in a chair by the window, resting her cheek in her hand as she looked over to the bed where the princess slept.

 

She looked incredibly peaceful, her head resting on her hand and the other one wrapped around a large panda plush, almost snuggling into the naps of its neck from behind. As she slept, there was a small smile on her face, and she hardly moved, as if she was happy in her dreams - the dream of being free was better than the reality of not being free, after all. Iruma watched her for a few moments, crude comments slowly dissipating from her mind’s eye as she realised just how pretty the girl was. Being a princess, she expected, like, some kind of smoking hot woman that could almost match up to her, but this girl was incredibly beautiful in a different way. It was something Iruma didn’t want to admit, but still, she couldn’t help but think how cute the girl was. Incredibly cute, adorable even, her skin looked like porcelain as moon shone through the small window that almost made it glow a delicate white, even movement and sound she made as she slept making Iruma’s heart thaw ever so slightly-

 

Wait, what the fuck was this sappy shit anyways?!

 

Iruma quickly looked away from the princess’ bed, noticing the figure who had placed himself by the door looking in her direction - almost scowling. Had he seen everything?

“The fuck’re you looking at, scaly ass?” She hissed through her teeth, loud enough to be heard but not as loud as to cause a disturbance. He’d probably kill her if she was at that high of a volume.

“You, clearly,” he replied, without missing a beat - as if he’d dealt with people like her before. “You seem to have taken interest in the young mistress.”

“Maybe so, why’d you think I’d even come here, for fun? Get real. I have better things to do.”

“I doubt that.”

“Don’t mock me, dickweed!”

He huffed, almost laughing as the corners of his mouth turned slightly, face only illuminated by a lit torch next to the door, a different glow on his cheekbones than that of the princess, one that seemed to reflect how annoyed he was with Iruma’s presence in the tower. Not like she could help that, or that she wanted to stay. Or maybe she did. She probably did. After all, she still had her reward to claim, didn’t she?

—

At some point, the blonde must have fallen asleep in the chair she sat in, and found herself awoken by a light shaking of her shoulder. Of course, he first instinct would have been to mutter a quiet ‘fuck off’ before attempting to return to sleep, but the voice that caused her name startled her awake to the point that was no longer an option.

“Iruma-san!” It most certainly not that dragon fuck’s voice, it was too delicate and feminine for that. That could only mean-

“OH, shit-” she wafted her arm and caused the girl to pull away, almost in fear, but the look on her face was rather one out of curiosity than the aforementioned fear.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Uh,” an odd question, to be sure. Iruma stood up and fixed her jacket, brushing down the sleeves and pulling at her gloves as she pondered the thought. Her neck was killing her, and she could feel the foggy memory of a distant dream in the back of her mind, one she was sure was pretty damn sweet, so to the princess’ question her answer would have to be; “Sure, I guess.”

The other girl blinked before smiling softly. “Oh, good. Tenko wouldn’t want you to sleep badly, you’re a guest.”

“Tenko?”

“Ah, yes-” She took a step back, fiddling at her nightgown skirt - she must have just woken up, then - before curtseying. “My name is Tenko. Amami-san told me about you as I woke up.”

“Oh… right, yeah. Kinda crashed your party here, huh.”

“There was no party - in fact, Tenko’s never had a party before.”

“Wait, seriously?” This girl hadn’t ever had a party? What an unfortunate soul.

Tenko nodded, before quickly taking hold of Iruma’s hand, very suddenly, watching as her face glowed and she looked away, almost shaking from the touch. At first concerned, she looked to Amami, who simply nodded, prompting her to speak. “Iruma-san, I’ve been told by Master that a person is to be judged by their deeds. For whatever reason, you made your way up to this tower with the intention of letting me leave - Tenko thanks you for your kindness. Amami-san has been keeping me shut in here on Master’s orders, but I want to leave. I want to see the world. Please, won’t you show me?”

At first, Iruma had no idea what to say, or even what was being said - she was focusing on the touch and warmth of the hand holding hers, and how soft Tenko’s skin was against her fingertips, the only part exposed behind her gloves. She zoned back in eventually, looking back, her eyes meeting the other girl’s, which only seemed to make her more embarrassed. This was like… Grade A fairy tale romantic bullshit, right? God, what had she gotten herself into? “I, uh… listen, princess. Honestly, I don’t need anyone tying me down-”

“I won’t be a bother to you! I assure you, I’m no damsel in distress - when my master comes to visit, he teaches me many forms of fighting and self-defence. If I wanted, I could flip you right now to demonstrate-”

“NO, GOD NO, please just… Fine, whatever, I trust that.” No getting hurt, not here, not today, not by a pretty girl… OK, maybe it would be great to get beaten up by a pretty girl. But not right now. “Tenko, right?”

“Yes, that’s my name! Tenko Chabashira.”

“Right.” Despite her genius, Iruma couldn’t think of any witty names for the girl right now. She made a quiet clicking noise with her tongue, before looking at Tenko with a small smirk, even though her face was still almost entirely red. “Think you can handle this?”

Tenko paused for a moment, before realising what Iruma was implying, making her face light up with a smile and for her to bounce up and down in sheer excitement.

Before she knew what was happening, Iruma found herself being swept off of her feet, and being spun around, wrapping her arms around Tenko’s neck on reflex as she was being held in her arms, listening to her laughter that was not at all like that of a princess - though the snorting was unattractive, it was certainly nice to see she wasn’t dainty and frail.

Tenko stopped in her spinning and looked up at the girl held in her arms, her face now hurting from smiling and laughing so much. There was nothing but silence now, though she could almost feel a new hope dancing in on the wind that blew through her window, knocking her shutters about ever so slightly.

 

“Chabashira-san,” As Amami spoke, the two girls almost jumped and looked over in a flustered panic - it was as if they’d forgotten he was even here. “Perhaps we should make our leave before the Master comes to visit.”

“Oh, of course!” Tenko looked back at Iruma, who seemed to be biting her lip to stop before from yelling aloud. “Iruma-san, am I alright to put you down now?”

“You never even asked to pick me up in the first place, jackass!” Despite her harsh tone, she managed to smile through her embarrassment, nodding and soon being placed on her feet again, adjusting her clothes soon after. “So, I’ll just, uh-”

“Wait outside? Thank you, yes please.”

“...You said those backwards.”

“Oh, uh,”

Iruma laughed as it was now the princess herself losing composure, before she gave a small wave as she exited the small tower room and headed for the spiral staircase-

“Oh, Iruma-san?”

She spun around on her heel, holding onto the doorframe as she did so. “Yeah?”

“...Thank you, again.”

Iruma took a moment before she nodded with a grin. “Don’t worry about it. We’re both gonna get something out of this.”

With that, she left again, waiting just outside the tower for the princess to join both her and the dragon, who honestly, she didn’t want coming along.

 

Soon, they departed, leaving the locked tower behind them without a second thought.

“So, Chabashitty,” It was the best she could do on short notice, “How about a kiss, as thanks?”  


“Aha, not quite yet, Iruma-san.” She quickly slipped her hand into Iruma’s, taking great amusement in the other girl’s embarrassment. “But I can do this, for now.”


End file.
